Groningen chief on rejecting Benfica for Resink: They called us... | OneFootball

Stije Resink was one of several names linked to Benfica during the winter transfer window. In the aftermath of the transfer period, Frank van Mosselveld, sporting director of the Dutch club, revealed that the refusal to sell the captain to the Eagles happened over the phone, without any personal contact between the parties involved.

"For extravagant sums, any player is for sale, but we are in the middle of the season and want to protect our situation", began the Groningen official, speaking to the Dutch press, after revealing what led Benfica to drop the deal.

"He is definitely staying. Benfica had a concrete interest in our captain during this transfer window, they called us to find out the situation", added van Mosselveld, in statements to the FC Afkicken television channel, before revealing Groningen’s response.

"We were very clear: 'we do not want to sell him'. Out of respect for Stije, we said that, since it was a club of that stature, we were willing to explain our position over the phone. That’s what we did, and Benfica accepted our decision", he added.

"We did not receive any official offer and no amounts were discussed. The most important thing is not to lose the captain in this market," van Mosselveld concluded, explaining that the Dutch club did not hear any proposal for the 22-year-old midfielder.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.